Day 5 - Mon 2nd Oct, 2017 - Siena to Bologna.

Day 5 - Mon 2nd Oct, 2017 - Siena to Bologna.

The excess of exercise resulted in an excellent sleep and I was ready to pack my bicycle for the train trip via Florence to Bologna for stage 2 of my holiday.

Being hungry, I enjoyed extra servings of the excellent breakfast at Hotel Italia. I walked 100m to the escalators and arrived at the Station with plenty of time and more energy then my arrival in Siena.

The regional train to Florence took about 90mins and I bid farewell to the rolling Tuscan hills till next time.

The Frecciarossa high speed train was an easy platform change at the  busy Florence Station. The only difficulty was luggage storage, being a full train. On these trains there is mainly overhead storage and one smallish floor to ceiling racks outside the carriage.

Upon arrival at Bologna Central, I opted for a taxi (€9) as the accommodation was 2.5km away.

Turned out the accommodation (Ospitalità San Tommaso d'Aquino)was part of the Catholic Church and resembled twin dorm rooms and were quite, clean and in a great location.

I eventually headed out and walked to the main square and tourist office. The city had the oldest University in the western world and dates to 1088. The streets are narrow, cobbled or paved, layer pit in a fan pattern from the square. A lot of sidewalks are totally covered with stone arches.

Dinner was again tasty with some local tortellini, done in a soup, followed by local meatballs with peas. The setting was an old book shop and the waiter helped me order. I noticed that selecting an empty restaurant just meant I was early as by my second course it was usually busy.

My plans for the train travel, taxi and accommodation had fallen into place and I fell asleep early.